Srinagar: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned National Conference President Farooq Abdullah for over six hours in connection with a multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, prompting accusations of a “political vendetta” by the newly-formed People’s Alliance comprising several mainstream parties.

The 82-year-old former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister received the ED summons a day after the formation of the People’s Alliance led by him was announced on October 15. He was questioned at the agency’s regional office here in the case connected to the embezzlement of more than Rs 40 crore of JKCA funds during his tenure as president of the association.

The CBI has already filed a chargesheet against him and the ED is probing the money laundering angle in the case.

Emerging from the ED office after the questioning, Abdullah told reporters that courts would decide on the merits of the case. “I am not worried. Why are you worried? The only regret I have is that I could not have my lunch as I had not brought it along.”

The ED, he said, was doing their job and he was doing his.

“Our struggle (for Article 370) will go on whether Farooq Abdullah is alive or Farooq Abdullah is dead. Our resolve has not changed and our resolve will not change even If I were to be hanged,” Abdullah said.

ED officials said Abdullah’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Lok Sabha MP and former JKCA president, who was also questioned in the case in Chandigarh in July last year, is understood to have been questioned about his role and decisions taken when the alleged fraud took place in the association.

The questioning took place four days after Jammu and Kashmir’s mainstream political parties, including the NC and the PDP, met at Abdullah’s residence and formed the People’s Alliance for ‘Gupkar Declaration’.

The Declaration resolves to campaign constitutionally for the restoration of Article 370, under which the erstwhile state enjoyed special status. On August 5 last year, the Centre revoked the state’s special status and bifurcated the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The Alliance strongly condemned Abdullah’s questioning and termed it “part of the vindictive politics practised by the central government to kill dissent and disagreement across the country and in present case to silence the genuine demand of reversal of unilateral and unconstitutional” abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A.

The ED case is based on an FIR filed by the CBI, which booked former JKCA office-bearers, including general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza.

The CBI later filed a chargesheet in 2018 against Abdullah, Khan, Mirza as well as Mir Manzoor Gazanffer Ali (former JKCA treasurer) and former accountants Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh for the “misappropriation of JKCA funds amounting to Rs 43.69 crore” from grants given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to promote the sport in the state between 2002-11.

The ED said its probe found that JKCA received Rs 94.06 crore from BCCI in three different bank accounts during financial years 2005-2006 to 2011-2012 (up to December 2011).

The ED alleged that several other bank accounts were opened in the name of the JKCA into which the funds were transferred. The bank accounts along with the existing bank accounts were later used for laundering JKCA funds.

Abdullah’s son and NC leader Omar Abdullah said the ED action was “…nothing less than political vendetta” and came days after the formation of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration.

Other leaders also spoke out on the issue.

The NC’s long-term rival, PDP, which has joined the Alliance, also condemned the ED’s action. PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was released after 14 months last week, deplored the “use of agencies to browbeat mainstream parties in JK”.

She said the ED’s “sudden summons to Farooq sahab displays the extent of GOIs nervousness about mainstream parties in JK fighting as one unit”.

(It) Also reeks of political vendetta and won’t in the least blunt our collective resolve to fight for our rights,” she said on Twitter.

People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone echoed her.

“What a sorry state of affairs. Dr Farooq sahib summoned by ED. Reeks of vendetta. Contrary to what they want to coercively achieve this will certainly have the opposite impact,” he tweeted.

The National Conference said in a statement that the summons is clearly the result of the unity that Dr Sahib has been able to forge among mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir .

“This is the price one faces when opposed to BJP’s ideology and divisive politics. Recent history is a witness to how BJP has been employing coercive and intimidative measures through various departments to target opposition leaders across the country…,”it said.

The NC said “the timing of the recent summons is very clear” as his previous summons was just before August 5 last year.

The statement said its president continues to maintain “his innocence and will cooperate with the authorities in what is nothing but a witch hunt”.

In February this year, the ED attached assets worth Rs 2.6 crore of Mirza and Gazanfer, a member of the finance committee of the JKCA. The agency alleged that Mirza transferred huge amounts into his personal bank accounts, and the money was further transferred or withdrawn in cash.

“Out of the laundered amounts, Rs 1.31 crore was received by Gazanffer who was a member of the finance committee of JKCA between 2006 to 2009.”

The ED claimed the committee was arbitrarily constituted by Abdullah, the then JKCA president.

According to the agency, the then “duly elected treasurer Mukhtar Kanth resigned in 2004. Farooq Abdullah appointed Mirza as JKCA treasurer without holding elections as mandated under the JKCA Rules, 1957”.

“In the JKCA elections held in 2006, Gazanfer was elected as Treasurer of JKCA and there was a brief court stay upon his acting as Treasurer of JKCA when Farooq Abdullah continued Mirza as the treasurer of JKCA,” the ED said.

The court stay was vacated the same year and Gazanfer was not given charge of treasurer. Instead, Farooq Abdullah constituted a finance committee comprising Mirza and Gazanfer and both were empowered to jointly operate JKCA bank accounts, it said.

The two “opened a personal bank account” in their joint names with Jammu and Kashmir Bank and crores of funds belonging to JKCA were transferred into it, the agency alleged. The funds were either withdrawn in cash or transferred to other bank accounts including the bank account of Mirza’s firm, it added.

In 2011, Mirza was elected JKCA general secretary and Farooq Abdullah president.

During the period, JKCA funds were continuously laundered, the ED alleged.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday said if the Mumbai police crime branch proposes to arraign Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in the television rating points (TRP) case, it should first issue summons to him as was done for eight others in the case.

A division bench of justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik said if such a summons is issued then Goswami shall appear before the police and cooperate with the investigation.

The court also directed police to submit for its perusal investigation papers pertaining to the case in a sealed cover by November 5 when it would hear the matter.

“The FIR is not an encyclopedia. We would like to peruse the investigation papers and see what probe has been done from today till the next date of hearing,” the court said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd, which owns Republic TV, and Goswami seeking to quash the FIR lodged on October 6.

The petition has also sought a direction to transfer the case to CBI to ensure a fair and transparent probe and also on the ground that the case will have pan-India repercussions.

The plea said the HC should stay the investigation and restrain police from taking any coercive action against the petitioners pending the hearing of their petition.

Appearing for the petitioners, senior counsel Harish Salve sought the court to grant Goswami protection from arrest.

“The police have been targeting him (Goswami) and there is apprehension that he may be arrested,” Salve said.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Maharashtra government and police, said since Goswami has not been named as accused in the case as of now, there cannot be any order granting him protection.

Sibal told the court that till now police have issued summons to eight persons in connection with the TRP case and questioned them.

“None of these persons has been arrested,” he said.

In a media release, Republic TV claimed Maharashtra government and Mumbai police have admitted in court that the channel is not named in the FIR in the TRP case.

The court noted that since Goswami has not been named as an accused in the case, it cannot pass an order granting him protection or directing the police to not take any coercive action against him.

“In case the Investigating Officer proposes to name petitioner No 2 (Goswami) as accused in the case, then, as done with the eight persons, the summons shall be issued to him (Goswami). The petitioner No 2 shall then cooperate with the police,” the court said.

The court also raised questions on whether it was correct on the part of the Mumbai police and its commissioner Param Bir Singh to hold press conferences in such matters.

“We don’t know if it is the correct method or procedure to give interviews to the media. We are not talking about just this matter but many sensitive cases…we find police giving information to the media even when an investigation is in progress. Police are not supposed to reveal incriminating information pertaining to the case,” Justice Shinde said.

Sibal, while agreeing to this, assured the court that the police shall not speak to the media with regard to the TRP scam case.

“But at the same time, even the petitioner channel should assure the court it will not indulge in the vilification of the police and conduct a media trial,” he said.

To this, Justice Shinde said, “Media is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy and, hence, they too need to behave responsibly.”

Salve, while seeking for the FIR to be quashed, argued that no offence is made out and the entire conduct of the police reeks of malafide and was only an attempt to silence the voice of the petitioners.

“The petitioner has been targeted by the police and the Maharashtra government since his strong reports during the Palghar lynching incident. A slew of FIRs has been registered against him after his reports then. This whole thing is a disguise and excuse to target Goswami and Republic TV,” Salve said.

Sibal, however, said the Palghar lynching incident and the petitioners’ reports on the same have nothing to do with the present case.

“The present investigation pertains to money paid to rig TRPs in order to gain commercial profit. The investigation is at a nascent stage. Maybe many other media channels are also involved,” Sibal told the court.

The TV channel filed the plea in HC on October 16, a day after the Supreme Court refused to hear a plea filed by one of its senior officials challenging the summons issued to them by the Mumbai police.

“The officers and key managerial persons of the channel and Arnab Goswami have reasonable and tangible grounds to believe they will be apprehended by the Mumbai police in connection with the FIR which is false, frivolous, politically motivated and an attempt to muzzle the media and silence the news reporting by Republic TV,” the petition said.

The Mumbai Crime Branch registered the FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy against Republic TV and its senior officials and also against two other local regional channels.

The plea also said the court should initiate a CBI inquiry and disciplinary proceedings under the service rules against Param Bir Singh for “gross dereliction of duty and abuse of power”.

“Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director Arnab Goswami have directed his legal team Phoenix Legal to initiate the proceedings to sue Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh for Rs. 200 crore damages– Rs. 100 crore for damage to the reputation of Arnab Goswami, and Rs. 100 crore for the damage caused to Republic Media Network,” Republic TV said in the statement.

“At present, the legal teams of Republic are in the process of filing the defamation suit against Param Bir Singh,” the channel said.

“Contradicting their own Police Commissioner, the Mumbai Police and Maharashtra Government lawyer today in the Bombay High Court admitted that Republic is not named in the FIR in the TRP case, and seemed to distance itself from the allegations made by the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh,” the statement said.

“Following this admission by the Maharashtra Government in open court, Arnab Goswami has directed that he will take every legal action against Param Bir Singh (and others if so required) and seek damages via a defamation suit,” the channel said.

Republic TV said it will file a contempt petition against Special Executive Magistrate and Assistant Police Commissioner Sudhir Jambwadekar, “on account of the fact that he initiated chapter proceedings with respect to FIRs that have been suspended by the orders of the Bombay High Court.”

New Delhi: Confessional statements of an accused which are not in the public domain cannot be accessed and published, observed the Delhi High Court which on Monday questioned a news channel over the broadcast of an alleged confession of an accused in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in February.

It also said that journalists do not have the right to take out the case diary and publish it.

The high court directed media house, Zee News Media Corporation Ltd, to file an affidavit disclosing the name of the source from whom the concerned journalist got the documents of an alleged confession statement of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university student.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru declined the request of the media house that it should be allowed to disclose the name of the concerned journalist in a sealed cover as revealing his name openly would risk his life and his family.

The judge asked the news channel to file a separate affidavit while listing the matter for further hearing on October 23.

Police have already initiated a vigilance inquiry into the matter. You (Zee News) have got access to documents which even the accused does not have. You file the counter reply disclosing the source from where you got the document, the judge said.

The high court was hearing a plea by JMI student Asif Iqbal Tanha alleging misconduct by police officials in leaking his disclosure statement, recorded by the probe agency during the investigation, to the media.

While the police have claimed that the disclosure statement was not leaked by any of its officials, the counsel for the news channel said the journalist has requested that he should not be pressed to disclose his source of information in view of the fact that the truthfulness of Tanha’s confessional statement has not been disputed by him in the petition.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, representing Zee News, argued that pressing for disclosure of source would amount to interfering with the freedom of the press as guaranteed under the Constitution, and in a situation where the source of information is not protected or safeguarded, the freedom of press will be severely jeopardized or interfered with.

The high court, however, said it does not think that it’s a journalist’s right to take out the case diary and publish it and that the news report cannot be based on documents that are not in the public domain.

These are documents that you cannot take out and publish. There is no doubt about it, the judge said.

Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, appearing for Tanha, said he was not concerned with the internal arrangement of the media house and before putting out news on a national TV, they should verify the details.

One has to determine where the document is coming. Accused were not being given copies of remand applications in which there are details about their case but journalists are given everything, he argued.

Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (special cell) in an affidavit, had said that Delhi Police was also aggrieved by the newspaper report in which the alleged confessional statement of JMI student Asif Iqbal Tanha was leaked out.

The police affidavit, through advocates Amit Mahajan and Rajat Nair, also stated that none of its officials indulged in the investigation of the case leaked out the information to the media.

The high court had asked two media houses and two social media platforms to respond to the plea which also sought a direction to take down the sensitive/ confidential information leaked to them by the officials of Delhi Police.

The high court had also refused to pass an ex-parte order directing the media houses, Zee News and OpIndia and social networking platforms Facebook and YouTube to remove the content and had said that it will pass necessary orders after hearing all the parties.

Tanha, in his petition, said he was aggrieved by various publications reporting that he has confessed to orchestrating the Delhi riots and alleged that he was coerced to sign certain papers in the effective custody of the police.

It said this information does not have any evidentiary value and alleged that the Delhi Police officials, with malafide intention, leaked the statements to the media to prejudice his case.

Tanha, who was arrested in May, is currently lodged in judicial custody in the Delhi riots case.

Tanha, a third-year student of BA in the Persian language, was earlier arrested in connection with the violence in the Jamia area during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December last year.

The police had said that Tanha, a resident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Shaheen Bagh, was a member of the Students Islamic Organization and was part of the Jamia Coordination Committee which spearheaded protests against the new citizenship law.

“Tanha is a key member of the Jamia Coordination Committee and played an active role in organizing protests and riots in Jamia in December 2019. He is a close associate of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, and Safoora Zargar who had been key organizers of anti-CAA protests and subsequent riots,” the police had said.

On December 15 last year, protesters had turned violent, torching four public buses and two police vehicles and pelting stones at the police and civilians, near JMI. At least 40 people including students, policemen, and firefighters were injured in the incident.

This is not the first time that hunger has become newsworthy in India. In post-independent India, though all governments launched a war against hunger, each time hunger won the war. Right from Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi Hatao’ to Vajpayee’s ‘Roti Aur Kapda’, political parties have used the promise of hunger eradication for electoral gains. Realizing that it is difficult to mobilize votes around the issue of hunger, the BJP used other emotional issues to reap electoral gains. With political parties understanding that it is easy to win elections by spreading hate instead of distributing food, ‘hunger’ moved to the bottom of the list of priorities of manifestos of political parties. With those claiming to have distributed food to the poor at low prices losing elections and those citing ‘Ram Mandir, Pakistan, Patel statue’ winning elections, governments progressively started reducing funds allocated to the poor. 

As a result, the world’s tallest statue has raised its head in the country. Speedy projects are being planned for bullet trains. The foundation stone has been laid to build the Ram Mandir. Preparations are now on to bring to the forefront the controversy around the Krishna temple. All this is being done using the media to make people believe that the country is moving towards becoming a world leader. At the same time, India has performed poorly in the Global Hunger Index (GHI). Last year if India was ranked 102nd in the GHI, this year it has improved its position to the 94th rank. Ironically, neighboring Pakistan is in the 88nd rank. The increase in the number of the hungry  people in India has surpassed that in Pakistan. The report has also shown that India’s performance is worse than Bangladesh’s. During the UPA administration, malnutrition rates in India had crossed 45 per cent. Now, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hunger continues its unstoppable victory march.

The moment India’s poor performance in GHI was announced, several experts started criticizing the government’s neglect towards malnutrition. And as usual, the government is blaming ‘Coronavirus’ for its failures. But the truth is beyond that. For the last ten years, all government programmes have focused on the rich. With the belief that the prosperity of the corporate sector translates to the prosperity of the country, the government has forgotten that the  poor are part of the country’s development. This government has adopted global attention and investments in mega projects as its development criterion. The massive Patel statue and bullet train projects are a part of this agenda to attract global attention. Demonetization, GST, and lockdown have weakened the foundation of the Indian economy. The government’s wrong decisions destroyed rural industries, medium sized industries, and the retail economy.  Digitization and Aaadhar card deprived the poor of the welfare benefits provided by the government and it became impossible for some of them  even to avail themselves of the Public Distribution System (PDS) food grains. The stories of those who died having been deprived of rationed food as they had no Aadhar card were splashed on the front pages of newspapers. With a faulty and inefficient PDS, the government’s new rules directly affected the poor. 

Now, the government is citing the excuse of ‘Coronavirus’ for everything. The government is hiding the fact that hunger has been drastically increasing right from the days of demonetization. Natural calamities and epidemics are not new to the world. If the country had cared for its poor, designed the PDS efficiently, prioritized eradication of hunger, the nation need not have feared the Coronavirus. Even when the country was in a state of shock due to the hunger caused by the lockdown, the food grains in godowns were diverted for the purpose of producing sanitizers instead of reducing hunger. Experts have warned that hunger can trigger other diseases even if the Coronavirus disappears from our midst. 

Doctors have already said that the Coronavirus is a disease that can spread to others quickly but it is not a deadly virus. If tuberculosis and Coronavirus diseases are compared, a country like India must fear tuberculosis more. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that the Coronavirus can destroy the country’s progress in the eradication of tuberculosis in the country. The WHO has expressed anguish that countries like India and South Africa that are most impacted by tuberculosis are diverting the funds allocated for tuberculosis for its battle against the Coronavirus. Even if Coronavirus ceases to exist, India’s health problems will not end. In the future, tuberculosis could become a huge problem due to two reasons. One, with the funds allocated for tuberculosis getting diverted to other services, accessing medicines and treatment would become increasingly difficult for those with tuberculosis. Two, with malnutrition the most important contributing factor for tuberculosis, increasing hunger could aggravate the problem of tuberculosis. 

In such a situation, the government should change its dual stand with regard to the consumption of beef that has the benefit of offering maximum proteins. People affected due to the lack of food and suffering hunger pangs should have easy access to beef.  The rest can be exported. The government’s acceptance of the consumption of beef as an integral part of the food system can lead to the reduction in malnutrition. The criterion for the identification of the poor should change. Comprehensive changes should be made in the distribution of food grains to make sure that food grains reach eligible families instead of letting them rot and consumed by worms in depots. The government should immediately understand that diseases can be won by winning over hunger. Otherwise, forget becoming a world leader, India might become a problem to the world due to the continued spread of diseases such as tuberculosis.  

New Delhi: A Corporal of Chinese People’s Liberation Army was apprehended in the Demchok sector of Eastern Ladakh on Monday after he had strayed across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian Army said.

The Chinese soldier has been identified as Wang Ya Long and he has been provided with required medical assistance including oxygen, food and warm clothes, it said.

Both Indian and Chinese armies have deployed over 50,000 troops each along the LAC in eastern Ladakh including in the Demchok sector following escalation of the five-month-long military standoff that began in early May.

The Army said the PLA soldier will be returned after completion of all the formalities.

“A PLA soldier identified as Corporal Wang Ya Long was apprehended in the Demchok sector of Eastern Ladakh on October 19 after he had strayed across the LAC,” the Army said in a statement.

“The PLA soldier has been provided medical assistance including oxygen, food and warm clothes to protect him from the vagaries of extreme altitude and harsh climatic conditions,” it added.

The statement said a request has also been received from the PLA about the whereabouts of the missing soldier.

“As per established protocols, he will be returned back to Chinese officials at the Chushul Moldo meeting point after completion of formalities,” the Army said.

Sources said the PLA soldier was interrogated on how he crossed over to the Indian side.

Palakkad: Three people were found dead at a Tribal colony at Kanjikode near here and nine, including three women, hospitalised, allegedly after consuming spurious liquor,police said on Monday.

Residents of the colony, Ayyappan and Raman, both above 52 years, died yesterday and were buried, they said.

“Today morning, the residents found Sivan (37) dead in front of his house and alerted us.We are filing three FIRs.

Police said nine, including three women, are under treatment at the district hospital here and all had consumed liquor the previous day.

“We don’t know whether what they consumed was liquor or not.The survivors say it was whitish in colour and got some smells similar to phenyl.We are probing in all directions,” Palakkad SPG Siva Vikram told the media.

Police are awaiting the post-mortem report of the deceased in order to confirm the cause of death. They suspect spirit or sanitiser was added to the liquor.

Police also said that the two bodies will be exhumed.